my sister gets in on the family racing & playing weekend

If you read this blog, you probably know we are a pretty active family, and often put our activities to the test by participating in races.  Bill and I have done many races together and supported each other when doing some races by ourselves.  The kids also come cheer us on sometimes.  And we have often been at a pool cheering Cadence on...

But the weekend of Aug 18-19th was not the usual family members together racing:  My sister Ariana, who now lives (way too) far away in Armstrong (a couple hours north of Thunder Bay) and we only see a couple times a year, surprised us in June saying she was going to fit in a trip down to visit us in the summer.  Seeing as how our summer schedule was already pretty booked we were quite lucky to find a good 5 day block that would work for everyone and when Ariana and I could participate in a running race together.  We have done a couple before, in fact my first 1/2 marathon in 2004 I did with her (she had already done some halves) and on New Year's this past year we did a 5k resolution run...Some of us held to our resolutions better than others; my sister has lost about 40lbs since the new year, looks awesome and has realized without the extra weight, she is fast! We signed up for the Iroquois 32k trail run for Aug 18th, before I realized she was getting so fast (lol).  She had made a few posts about her pace in some other runs and I knew that with the way my training had been it would be best for me not to try and keep up with her.  In the end she seriously kicked my butt, but then she kicked a lot of peoples butts, coming 2nd female and 8th overall finisher.  I finished with a smile, in 4 hours and 9 minutes (about 9 minutes over my best marathon (42k) time) that may sound completely awful, going 10k less in about the same time, but this was real trail running.  I must have tripped 2 dozen times on the course, and the funny thing is at least half of the trips were on not so technical parts, when you let your guard down because it isn't so technical, bam that's when it happens a root jumps up right in front of you...

This course was a lot of fun, very technical in some spots, lots of running/skipping/walking on/up/down boulders, great scenery when you could look around.  Most of the trails were out and back (& the 50k runners were on the course too)  And this made for a tight little group, but everyone was super friendly.  It was really incredible!  I can't recall anything quite like it.  Pretty much everyone said a word of encouragement to each other as we passed by, including the 50k winner.  This guy was flying but still nodded his head, smiled and said "great job" to me as he ran past.  My sister cheered extra loud when I finished which was nice too.  And then we had a yummy picnic lunch (supplied by the race) together, collapsed in the grass.  

Actually, the body felt quite good after, even the legs were not too sore.  I believe it's the best I've felt after a running race this year, which I think is testament to me running a smart race, not trying to stay with my sister, doing my own race, respecting the distance and the trails, which are beautiful but can be hard on the body, with the hard climbs and jarring descents, and all the saves from stumbling and rolling ankles etc.  All in all, a great run, and fun that we can put another one in the memory bank as having done together...

Welland canal

The next day the racing with a family member would continue for me.  This time, for the first time, Cadence and I entered an open water race together.  The 1k at the Welland canal races.  Cadence being only 13 was only allowed to do 1k but it was perfect for getting her into an open water race.  Hope she doesn't mind me saying this, but she was nervous about the open water, so I was thrilled she was willing to try it with the caveat that I stay right beside her.  This meant I would have to go top speed, but I told her if she felt confident she could take off on me any time.  She was a bit freaked out by the weeds as we entered the water, but once we started she seemed fine, we stayed side by side and she was smiling.  The course for the race is about as much like pool swimming as open water can get.  We found out there was a rope line about  5 feet below us, connecting the buoys and just followed it to stay online (just like following the line on the bottom of the pool)  And the water was flat!
Then we saw Bill with Dahlia on his shoulders walking along shore beside us.  And Ariana hobbling a bit (she was more sore than me, well deserved for beating me the day before ~ just kidding) and her boyfriend Adam were there too.  We wave to them.  We swim on, hardly look ahead since we have this great line to follow straight, it felt like we were the only 2 swimming sometimes, we seemed to swim well together.  It would have made more sense to take turns drafting off each other, but this was fun, swimming face-to-face.  And eventually we saw the finish, Cadence picked it up a little and did pull a tiny bit ahead, but she didn't realize she had to hit the board above our heads.  So when we both stopped under it I say you've got to hit it and I hit it at the same time, it was an automatic action which put me down as being a 10th of a second faster than her lol.  We both finished top ten, but most important was she had fun!  It was just really wonderful doing this with my girl!
We got out, saw our fans (Bill, Dahlia, Ariana, Adam) and a few other LOSTies were there to say hi to.

And then we headed to Knights Beach for the afternoon for Bill's sister Terri's birthday, where everyone got to enjoy the water for a bit.  We also made sand castles and played at the playgound.

A great weekend...

Ariana & Dahlia

But wait, Bill and I booked Monday off, so the fun wasn't over... we all went to Canada's Wonderland the next day.  More good times!  Those who went on the Leviathan rated it the best ride of the day.  (I hung with Dahlia while the others went and the lines were too long to wait again)  I liked the pirate ship, because we all rode it side-by-side and Dahlia was so excited!  Actually she loved all the rides she was big enough to go on, which included some of the bigger ones, so we are all good (well I think Adam was good, he looked a little freaked on a couple rides lol) and we broke-off in to groups sometimes, so everyone got turns doing the big ones Dahlia couldn't do yet.

no I don't think she's having fun

Unfortunately all good things come to an end,  Ariana was going home early the next day and we had a car full of teary eyes after we dropped them off... 

We miss you already Ariana!  Come back home soon!